British Ceramics Biennial launch 2025 programme at Spode
British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) has launched the full programme for its ninth edition, taking place from 6 September to 19 October 2025, with six weeks of free exhibitions, screenings, talks and events dispersed across the former Spode factory site in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent.
Hot on the heels of Stoke-on-Trent being named a World Craft City, and in the year that the city celebrates its centenary, the 2025 British Ceramics Biennial spotlights leading international contemporary ceramic artists and introduces fresh new talent through new commissions and partnerships, drawing on Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial heritage and creative spirit.
Programme highlights include:
• BCB’s flagship exhibition, Award, bringing together new work by 10 leading artists competing for the £10,000 BCB Award Prize. They include Jane Perryman, whose plant-dyed ceramics chart her 20-year rewilding of an agricultural wasteland, and Daniel Silver who examines the human experience through his ceramic and oil paint sculptures.
• The new wave of artists working in clay introduced through Fresh.
• Playscape: an experimental rammed earth architecture project with Tuckey Design Studio that will transform construction clay spoil and aggregate into a children’s play space.
(Images supplied by BCB. Credit Jenny Harper)
Playscape
• BCB’s first Clay Films programme showcasing the work of 10 Global Majority artists working in film and clay – an area of practice which has to date received little exposure.
• Josie KO’s The Chimney Princess for the BCB People & Place Commission, in which she explores the role of Black women in Stoke-on-Trent and creates a new goddess for the city.
• Clay Conference examining the opportunities, challenges and environmental impact of re-using clay sourced from UK construction spoil.
• Slip Tales: a contemporary response to Staffordshire’s heritage of slip decoration shown in a display of tableware made by local communities.
• Raverina’s Dance Floor: an interactive, sensory art installation by Carolina Garfo inspired by the ceramic practices of the Algarve in Portugal.
• New work from rising ceramic stars Tim Fluck, Caroline Gray, Andrea Leigh, Chi Onwordi and Krzysztof Strzelecki created during their Fresh Talent Residencies.
Clare Wood, Artistic Director & Chief Executive of British Ceramics Biennial said: ‘It is wonderful to be back at Spode for the next British Ceramics Biennial. We’ll be animating this important post-industrial site with ambitious, imaginative and important works in clay and ceramic.
“The Biennial is a true celebration of clay’s creative potential, both for making beautiful objects and for tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time. I’m looking forward to sharing the work of over 60 outstanding artists with our thousands of visitors over the course of the Biennial.”
BCB’s artistic programme is internationally recognised for its creative ambition and as a catalyst for positive change. Since 2009, the British Ceramics Biennial has been helping to transform and regenerate Stoke-on-Trent through its engaging year-round programme of artists’ commissions, learning and community projects, and with a vision of making change through clay. All this feeds into the Biennial programme.
